CHAPTER OUTLINE...y daughter Bethany came to visit her newest nephew, Isaac, 7 months old. She had visited him many times before, always ex-pressing joy and excitement with her voice,

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Emotional Development

Early Emotions

Toddlers’ Emotions

Brain and Emotions

Temperament

OPPOSING PERSPECTIVES: Mothers or Genes?

The Development of Social Bonds

Synchrony

Attachment

Insecure Attachment and the Social Setting

Social Referencing

Fathers as Social Partners

A CASE TO STUDY: Can We Bear This Commitment?

Theories of Infant Psychosocial Development

Psychoanalytic Theory

Behaviorism

Cognitive Theory

Infant Day Care

Many Choices, Many Cultures

A VIEW FROM SCIENCE: The Mixed Realities of Center Day Care

A Stable, Familiar Pattern

C H A P T E R O U T L I N E

Copyright © 2016 by Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.

129

WHAT WILL YOU KNOW?

THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The Social Worldj Do smiles replace tears as babies grow older?

j Can you tell whether toddlers have bonded with their mothers?

j Are emotions inborn or learned?

j Is exclusive maternal care best for babies?

My daughter Bethany came to visit her newest nephew, Isaac,

7 months old. She had visited him many times before, always ex-

pressing joy and excitement with her voice, face, and hands. By

2 months, he always responded in kind, with big smiles and waving arms, to

her delight. But this time he was more hesitant, and looked away, nuzzling

on his mother. Later Bethany tried again, and this time he kept looking and

smiling.

“You like me now,” she said.

“He always liked you, he was just tired,” said Elissa, his mother.

“I know,” Bethany told her. “I didn’t take it personally.”

I appreciated both daughters. Elissa sought to reassure Bethany, and

Bethany knew that Isaac’s reaction was not really to her, although she wished

that he had not turned away. But the person I appreciated most was Isaac,

responsive to people as well-loved babies should be, but wary and seeking

maternal comfort as he grew closer to a year. Emotions change month by

month in the first two years; ideally caregivers change with them.

This chapter opens by tracing infants’ emotions as their brains mature and

their experiences accumulate. Next we explore caregiver–infant interaction,

particularly synchrony, attachment, and social referencing, and some theo-

ries that explain those developments

Finally we explore a controversy: Who should be infant caregivers and

how should they respond? Families and cultures answer this question in

many ways. Fortunately, as this chapter explains, despite diversity of tem-

perament and caregiving, most people thrive, as long as their basic physical

and emotional needs are met. Isaac, Elissa, and Bethany are all thriving. ■

Emotional DevelopmentIn their first two years, infants progress from reactive pain and pleasure to complex pat-terns of social awareness (see At About This Time), a movement from reflexive emotions to learned and then thoughtful ones (Panksepp & Watt, 2011). Infant emotions arise

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130 \ \ P A R T I I \ \ The First Two Years

more from basic impulses than from the cortex, so speedy, uncen-sored reactions—crying, startling, laughing, raging—are common.

Early EmotionsAt first there is pleasure and pain. Both are evident throughout in-fancy, even throughout life, but the triggers, reasons, and expressions change with development, and many new emotions appear.

AT BIRTH Newborns are happy and relaxed when fed and drifting off to sleep. They cry when they are hurt or hungry, tired or fright-ened (as by a loud noise or a sudden loss of support). Some infants have bouts of uncontrollable crying, called colic, probably the result of immature digestion; some have reflux, probably the result of im-mature swallowing. About 20 percent of babies cry “excessively,” de-fined as more than three hours a day, more than three days a week, more than three weeks (J. S. Kim, 2011).

Curiosity is also present, although briefly, as sleep and hunger overtake almost every other reaction. Even a crying baby can sud-denly grow quiet, when sucking and food overcome the emotion.

SMILING AND LAUGHING Soon, additional emotions become rec-ognizable. Happiness is expressed by the social smile, evoked by a human face at about 6 weeks for full-term babies, a few weeks later for preterm infants.

Infants worldwide express social joy, even laughter, between 2 and 4 months (Konner, 2007; Lewis, 2010). Laughter builds as curios-ity does; a typical 6-month-old laughs loudly upon discovering new things, particularly social experiences that balance familiarity and surprise, such as Daddy making a funny face. They prefer looking at happy faces rather than sad ones, even if the happy faces are not looking at them (Kim & Johnson, 2013).

ANGER AND SADNESS The positive emotions of joy and contentment are joined by negative emotions. Obvious anger appears by 6 months, usually triggered by frustra-tion, such as when infants are prevented from moving or grabbing. Infants hate to be strapped in, caged in, closed in, or even just held in place when they want to explore.

In infancy, anger is generally a healthy response to frustration, unlike sadness, which also appears in the first months. Sadness indicates withdrawal and is accompa-nied by a greater increase in the body’s production of cortisol.

Since sadness produces physiological stress (measured by cortisol levels), sor-row negatively impacts the infant. All social emotions, particularly sadness and fear, probably shape the brain (Fries & Pollak, 2007; Johnson, 2011). As you learned in Chapter 3, experience matters. Sad and angry infants whose mothers are depressed become fearful toddlers (Dix & Yan, 2014). Too much sadness early in life correlates with depression later on.

FEAR Fear in response to some person, thing, or situation (not just being startled in surprise) is evident at about 9 months and soon becomes more frequent and obvious. Two kinds of social fear are typical:

l Separation anxiety—clinging and crying when a familiar caregiver is about to leave

l Stranger wariness—fear of unfamiliar people, especially when they move too close, too quickly

social smile A smile evoked by a human face, normally first evident in full-term infants about 6 weeks after birth.

separation anxietyAn infant’s distress when a familiar caregiver leaves; most obvious between 9 and 14 months.

stranger warinessAn infant’s expression of concern—a quiet stare while clinging to a familiar person, or a look of fear—when a stranger appears.

At About This Time: Developing Emotions

Birth Distress; contentment

6 weeks Social smile

3 months Laughter; curiosity

4 months Full, responsive smiles

4–8 months Anger

9–14 months Fear of social events (strangers, separation from caregiver)

12 months Fear of unexpected sights and sounds

18 months Self-awareness; pride; shame; embarrassment

As always, culture and experience influence the norms of development. This is especially true for emotional development after the first eight months.

Smiles All Around Joy is universal when an infant smiles at her beaming grandparents—a smile made even bet-ter when the tongue joins in. This par-ticular scene took place in Kazakhstan in central Asia, an independent nation since 1991.

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The First Two Years: The Social World \ \ C H A P T E R 4 \ \ 131

Separation anxiety is normal at age 1, intensifies by age 2, and usually subsides after that. Fear of separation interferes with infant sleep. For example, infants who fall asleep next to familiar people may wake up frightened if they are alone (Sadeh et al., 2010). The solution is not necessarily to sleep with the baby, but neither is it to ignore the child’s natural fear of separation.

Some babies are comforted by a “transitional object,” such as a teddy bear or blan-ket, beside them as they transition from sleeping in their parents’ arms to sleeping alone. Music, a night light, or an open door may ease the fear.

Transitional objects are not pathological; they are the infant’s way of coping with anxiety. However, if separation anxiety remains strong after age 3 and impairs the child’s ability to leave home, go to school, or play with friends, it is considered an emotional disorder. Separation anxiety as a disorder can be diagnosed up to age 18 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013); some clinicians diagnose it in adults as well (Bögels et al., 2013).

Separation anxiety may be apparent outside the home. Strangers—especially those who do not look or move like familiar caregivers—merit stares, not smiles, at age 1. This is a good sign: Infant memory is active and engaged. Fear of strangers is nor-mative, which means that every toddler typically manifests it, but genes and par-ents make it stronger (as when the child cries and hides) or weaker (with a wary look). Children whose parents are themselves anxious are likely to fear new people throughout childhood (Brooker et al., 2013).

Many normal 1-year-olds fear anything unexpected, from the flush of the toilet to the pop of a jack-in-the-box, from closing elevator doors to the tail-wagging approach of a dog. With repeated experience and reassurance, older infants might enjoy flushing the toilet (again and again) or calling the dog (crying if the dog does not come). Note the transition from instinct to learning to thought (Panksepp & Watt, 2011).

Toddlers’ EmotionsEmotions take on new strength during toddlerhood, as both memory and mobility advance (Izard, 2009). For example, throughout the second year and beyond, anger and fear become less frequent but more focused, targeted toward infuriating or terri-fying experiences. Similarly, laughing and crying are louder and more discriminating. This is the familiar path from sensation to perception to cognition.

The new strength of emotions is apparent in temper tantrums. Toddlers are famous for fury. When something angers them, they might yell, scream, cry, hit, and throw themselves on the floor. Logic is beyond them; if adults respond with anger or teas-ing, that makes it worse.

One child was angry at her feet and said she did not want them. When a parent offered to get a scissors and cut them off, a new wail of tantrum erupted. With tem-per tantrums, soon sadness comes to the fore, at which time comfort—rather than acquiescence or punishment—is helpful (Green et al., 2011).

SOCIAL AWARENESS Temper can be seen as an expression of selfhood. So can new toddler emotions: pride, shame, jealousy, embarrassment, disgust, and guilt. These emotions require social awareness, which typically emerges from family interactions. For instance, in a study of infant jealousy, when mothers deliberately paid attention to another infant, babies moved closer to their mothers, bidding for attention. Brain activity also registered social awareness (Mize et al., 2014).

Culture is crucial here, with independence a value in some families but not in others. Many North American parents encourage toddler pride (saying, “You did it yourself ”—even when that is untrue), but Asian families typically cultivate modesty and shame. Such differences may still be apparent in adult personality and judgment.

THINK CRITICALLY: Which is more annoying, people who brag or people who call themselves “stupid”?

Developmentally Correct Both Santa’s smile and Olivia’s grimace are appropriate reactions for people of their age. Adults playing Santa must smile no matter what, and if Olivia smiled, that would be troubling to any-one who knows about 7-month-olds. Yet every Christmas, thousands of parents wait in line to put their infants on the laps of oddly dressed, bearded strangers.

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Disgust is also strongly influenced by other people. According to a study that involved children of various ages, many 18-month-olds (but not younger infants) express disgust at touching a dead animal. None, however, were disgusted when a teenager cursed at an elderly person—something that parents and older children often find disgusting (Stevenson et al., 2010).

SELF-AWARENESS In addition to social awareness, another foundation for emotional growth is self-awareness, the realization that one’s body, mind, and activities are distinct from those of other people (Kopp, 2011). Closely following the new mobil-ity that results from walking is an emerging sense of “me” and “mine” that leads the infant to develop a new consciousness of self and others at about age 1.

In a classic experiment (Lewis & Brooks, 1978), 9- to 24-month-olds looked into a mirror after a dot of rouge had been surreptitiously put on their noses. If they reacted by touching the red dot on their noses, that meant they knew the mirror reflected their own faces. None of the babies younger than 12 months did that, although they sometimes smiled and touched the dot on the “other” baby in the mirror.

However, at some time between 15 and 24 months, babies become self-aware, touching their noses with curiosity and puzzlement. Self-recognition in the mirror/rouge test (and in photographs) usually emerges at about 18 months, along with two other advances: pretending and using first-person pronouns (I, me, mine, myself, my) (Lewis, 2010).

As another scholar explains it, “an explicit and hence reflective conception of the self is apparent at the early stage of language acquisition at around the same age that infants begin to recognize themselves in mirrors” (Rochat, 2013, p. 388). This is yet another example of the interplay of all the infant abilities—walking, talking, and emotional self-understanding work together to make the 18-month-old a quite different person from the 8-month-old.

Brain and Emotions Brain maturation is involved in the developments just described because every reac-tion begins in the brain (Johnson, 2011). Experience produces connections between neurons and emotions.

Links between expressed emotions and brain growth are complex and thus dif-ficult to assess and describe with precision (Lewis, 2010). Compared with the emo-tions of adults, discrete emotions—the difference between fear and excitement, for instance—during early infancy are murky and unpredictable.

The growth of synapses and dendrites is a likely explanation for the gradual refinement and expression of each emotion, the result of past experiences and ongo-ing maturation. Already by 6 months, an infant’s brain patterns and stress hormones seem affected by caregiver responsiveness (Enlow et al., 2014).

GROWTH OF THE BRAIN Many specific aspects of brain development support social emotions (Lloyd-Fox et al., 2009). For instance, the social smile and laughter a ppear as the cortex matures (Konner, 2010). The same is probably true for fear, self- awareness, and anger. The brains of 8-month-olds respond to other people who look or act afraid, and that probably enhances the infant’s own expression of fear (Missana et al., 2014).

Cultural differences become encoded in the infant brain, called “a cultural sponge” by one group of scientists (Ambady & Bharucha, 2009, p. 342). It is difficult to measure exactly how infant brains are molded by their context, in part because few parents give permission for scanning the brains of their normally developing infants. However, in one study (Zhu et al., 2007) adults—half born in the United States and half in China—were asked whether certain adjectives applied to them. For both groups, a particular

self-awarenessA person’s realization that he or she is a distinct individual whose body, mind, and actions are separate from those of other people.

My Finger, My Body, and Me Mirror self-recognition is particularly important in her case, as this 2-year-old has a twin sister. Parents need to make sure each child develops his or her own identity. Parents may enjoy dressing twins alike and giving them rhyming names, but each baby needs to forge an identity.

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Video Activity: Self-Awareness and the Rouge Test shows the fa-mous assessment of how and when self-awareness appears in infancy.

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area of the brain (the medial prefrontal cortex) was activated by that question. Then they were asked whether the same adjectives applied to their mothers. That medial prefrontal cortex was activated for the Chinese participants, but not for the U.S. ones.

Researchers consider this finding to be “neuroimaging evidence that culture shapes the functional anatomy of self-representation” (Zhu et al., 2007, p. 1310). They speculate that brain activation occurs because the Chinese participants learned, as babies, that they are closely aligned with their mothers, whereas the U.S. partici-pants learned to be independent.

Beyond culture, an infant’s brain activity interacts with caregiver responses, prob-ably in the first months of life as well as through the years of childhood (E. Nelson et al., 2014). Highly reactive 15-month-olds (who were quick to cry) with wonderfully responsive caregivers (not hostile or neglectful) became less fearful, less angry, and so on (Ursache et al., 2013).

By age 4, they could regulate their emotions, no longer bursting into tears at any distress. Presumably they had developed neurological links between brain ex-citement and emotional response, so their excitement was connected to thought. However, highly reactive toddlers whose caregivers were less responsive were often overwhelmed by their emotions later on (Ursache et al., 2013). Differential suscep-tibility is apparent: Innate reactions and caregiver actions together sculpt the brain.

LEARNING ABOUT OTHERS The tentative social smiles of 2-month-old infants to any face soon become quick and full smiles when they see their familiar caregiv-ers. This occurs because, with repeated experience, the neurons that fire together become more closely and quickly connected to each other (via dendrites).

Social preferences form in the early months, connected not only with a per-son’s face but also with voice, touch, and smell. Early social awareness is one reason adopted children ideally join their new parents in the first days of life (a marked change from 100 years ago, when adoptions began after age 1).

Social awareness is also a reason to respect an infant’s reaction to a babysitter: If a 6-month-old screams and clings to the parent when the sitter arrives, another babysitter probably needs to be found. (Do not confuse this reaction with separation anxiety at 12 months—a normal, expected reaction.)

Every experience that a person has—especially in the early days and months— activates and prunes neurons, firing patterns from one axon to a dendrite reflect past learning.

As illustrated in Visualizing Development in Chapter 3, p. 95, this was first shown dramatically with baby mice: Some were licked and nuzzled by their mothers almost constantly, and some were neglected. A mother mouse’s licking of her newborn ba-bies reduced methylation of a gene (Nr3c1), which allowed more serotonin (a neu-rotransmitter) to be released by the hypothalamus (a region of the brain discussed in Chapter 5).

Serotonin not only increased momentary pleasure (mice love being licked) but also started a chain of epigenetic responses to reduce cortisol from many parts of the brain and body, including the adrenal glands. The effects on both brain and behavior are lifelong for mice and probably for humans as well.

For many humans, social anxiety is stronger than any other anxiety. Certainly to some extent this is genetic. But epigenetic research finds environmental influences are important as well. This was clearly shown in a longitudinal study of 1,300 ado-lescents (twins and siblings): Their genetic tendency toward anxiety was evident at every age, but life events affected how strong that anxiety was felt (Zavos et al., 2012).

A smaller study likewise found that if the infant of an anxious biological mother is raised by a responsive adoptive mother who is not anxious, the inherited anxiety does not materialize (Natsuaki et al., 2013).



Parents need to be comforting (as with the nuzzled baby mice) but not overprotective. Fearful mothers tend to raise fearful children, but fathers who offer their infants exciting but not dangerous challenges (such as a game of chase, crawling on the floor) reduce later anxiety (Majdandžic et al., 2013).

STRESS Emotions are connected to brain activity and hormones; they are affected by genes, past experiences, and additional hormones and neu-rotransmitters. Many of the specifics are not yet understood, but one link is clear: Excessive fear and stress harms the developing brain.

The specific mechanism seems to be that normally “the mother’s presence acts as a social buffer,” keeping cortisol levels low and thus fear at bay. However, if that does not occur, the brain develops more rapidly than normal. In that

case, a child who seems adultlike in some emotions later becomes impaired because the parts of the brain that respond to emotions developed too quickly (Tottenham, 2014).

Brain scans of children who were maltreated in infancy show abnormal responses to stress, anger, and other emotions later on, including to photographs of frightened people. Some children seem resilient, but many areas of the brain (the prefrontal cortex, discussed in Chapter 3, and the hypothalamus, amygdala, HPA axis, and hip-pocampus, which will be explained in later chapters) are affected by abuse, especially if the maltreatment begins before age 2 (Bernard et al., 2014; Cicchetti, 2013a).

Since early caregiving affects the brain lifelong, caregivers should be consistent and reassuring. This is not always easy. Remember that some infants cry inconsolably in the early weeks. One researcher notes:

An infant’s crying has 2 possible consequences: it may elicit tenderness and desire to soothe, or helplessness and rage. It can be a signal that encourages attachment or one that jeopardizes the early relationship by triggering depression and, in some cases, even neglect or abuse.

[J. S. Kim, 2011, p. 229]

Sometimes mothers are blamed, or blame themselves, when an infant cries. This attitude is not helpful: A mother who feels guilty or incompetent may become angry at her baby, which leads to unresponsive parenting, an unhappy child, and then hostile interactions. (Presumably the results would be the same if the father, or grandmother,

were the primary caregiver, although extensive research on those infant–caregiver relationships has not yet been published.) Years later, first-grade classmates and teachers are likely to consider children of unresponsive mothers disruptive and aggressive (Lorber & Egeland, 2011).

But the opposite may occur if early crying produces solicitous par-enting. Then, when the baby outgrows the crying, the parent–child bond may be exceptionally strong.

A study of colicky babies found both reactions in the parents (Land-gren et al., 2012). One mother said:

There were moments when, both me and my husband . . . when she was apoplectic and howling so much that I almost got this thought, ‘now I’ll take a pillow and put over her face just until she quietens down, until the screaming stops.’

By contrast, another mother said

In some way, it made me stronger, and made my relationship with my son stronger . . . Because I felt that he had no one else but me. ‘If I can´t manage, no one can.’ So I had to cope.

Remember from Chapter 3 that cross-modal perception occurs in infancy, making synesthesia more common than later on. A caregiver’s smell and voice may evoke a vision of that person, for instance, or a

No Tears Needed In the first weeks of life, babies produce no tears. However, sadness is obvious—unlike adults who smile when tears betray them. Given what is known about the infant brain, we hope photography did not postpone baby-comforting.

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Empathy Wins Crying babies whose caregivers sympathize often become confident, accomplished, and caring children. Sleep deprivation makes any-one unhappy, but this man’s response is much better for both of them than anger or neglect.

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sound may be connected with a shape. For example, when 4-month-old infants hear words that seem more staccato—such as “kiki”—they are more likely to look at an angular shape than a round one (Ozturk et al., 2013).

The tendency of one part of the brain to activate another may also occur for emotions. An infant’s cry can be triggered by pain, fear, tiredness, surprise, or excite-ment; laughter can turn to tears. Infant emotions may erupt, increase, or disappear for unknown reasons (Camras & Shutter, 2010). Brain immaturity is a likely explanation.

TemperamentTemperament is defined as the “biologically based core of individual differences in style of approach and response to the environment that is stable across time and situations” (van den Akker et al., 2010, p. 485). “Biologically based” means that these traits originate with nature, not nurture. Confirmation that temperament arises from the inborn brain comes from an analysis of the tone, duration, and intensity of in-fant cries after the first inoculation, before much experience outside the womb. Cry variations at this very early stage correlate with later temperament (Jong et al., 2010).

Temperament is not the same as personality, although temperamental inclinations may lead to personality differences. Generally, personality traits (e.g., honesty and humility) are learned, whereas temperamental traits (e.g., shyness and aggression) are genetic. Of course, for every trait, nature and nurture interact.

In laboratory studies of temperament, infants are exposed to events that are fright-ening or attractive. Four-month-olds might see spinning mobiles or hear unusual sounds. Older babies might confront a noisy, moving robot or a clown who quickly moves close to them. During such experiences, some children laugh, some cry, others are quiet, and still others exhibit a combination of these reactions.

Generally, three dimensions of temperament are found (Hirvonen et al., 2013; van den Akker et al., 2010; Degnan et al., 2011), each of which affects later personality and achievement.

l Effortful control (regulating attention and emotion, self-soothing)

l Negative mood (fearful, angry, unhappy)

l Exuberant (active, social, not shy)

Each of these dimensions is associated with distinctive brain patterns as well as behavior, with the last of these (exuberance versus shyness) most strongly traced to genes (Wolfe et al., 2014). Of course, all temperament traits are thought to be bio-logically based with a genetic component, but the distinction between temperament (biology) and personality (learned) is clearer on paper than in people. Social scientists sometimes interpret the data in opposite ways, as you will now see.

temperamentInborn differences between one person and another in emotions, activity, and self-regulation. It is measured by the person’s typical responses to the environment.

Video: Temperament in Infancy and Toddlerhood http://qrs.ly/j44ep09

Stranger Danger Some parents teach their children to be respectful of any adult; others teach them to fear any stranger. No matter what their cul-ture or parents say, each of these two sisters in Nepal reacts according to her inborn temperament.

OPPOSING PERSPECTIVES

Mothers or Genes?

twins, leading many social scientists to be impressed by the biological basis for human differences.

Many neuroscientists seek to discover which alleles affect specific emotions. For example, researchers have found that the 7-repeat allele of the DRD4 VNTR gene, when com-bined with the 5-HTTLPR genotype, results in 6-month-olds who are difficult—often crying, hard to distract, slow to laugh (Holmboe et al., 2011; Windhorst et al., 2015). Infants with a particular allele of the MOA gene are reported to be

Traditionally, as you will later read, psychologists emphasized mothers. Their actions in the early years were thought to af-fect their child lifelong. Many adults credit, or blame, their mothers for their success and failure.

Recently, however, genetic research and neuroscience suggest a strong role for genes and neurotransmitters, making one person fearful and another foolhardy, one person angry and another sanguine, and so on. These studies often include photos of brain scans, and statistical analysis of monozygotic

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Fearful at 9, 14, 24,and 48 months

42%

12%

Positive(every later time)

Fearful (everylater time)

Variable (sometimespositive, sometimes not)

Variable (sometimes fearful,

sometimes not)44%

Positive at 9, 14, 24,and 48 months

80%

Inhibited (fearful) at 4 monthsand then

Positive (exuberant) at 4 monthsand then

Changes in Temperament Between Ages 4 Months and 4 Years

Data from Fox et al., 2001.

15% 5%

FIGURE 4.1 Do Babies’ Temperaments Change? Sometimes it is possible—especially if they were fearful babies. Adults who are reassuring help children overcome fearfulness. If fearful children do not change, it is not known whether that’s because their parents are not sufficiently reassuring (nurture) or because the babies themselves are temperamentally more fearful (nature).

infant temperament. That confirms that biology affected their traits.

However, learning (specifically cognitive control) was also evident: Their outward behavior was similar to those with a more outgoing temperament, unless other factors caused serious emotional problems. Apparently, most of them had learned to override their initial temperament—not to erase social anxiety but to keep it from impairing adult behavior (Jarcho et al., 2013).

Continuity and change were also found in another study that found that angry infants were likely to make their moth-ers hostile toward them, and, if that happened, such infants be-came antisocial children. However, if the mothers were loving and patient, despite the difficult temperament of the children, hostile traits were not evident later on (Pickles et al., 2013).

The two trends evident in all these studies—continuity and improvement—have been replicated in many longitu-dinal studies of infant temperament, especially for antisocial personality traits. Difficult babies tend to become difficult children, but not always. Family and culture sometimes d eflect negative outcomes.

The reason both opposing interpretations thrive may de-pend more on the person drawing the conclusions than on the babies. Some people are inclined to accept things as they are. They are likely to emphasize inborn traits that do not change. Other people believe that change is always possible, even likely. They seek ways that early caregiving, or the social context, or even the national political structure, shape behavior.

Which of these two folk sayings are you more likely to tell your friends?

A leopard cannot change his spots, or

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

quick to anger (Sung et al., 2015). You need not remember the letters of these alleles, but the data have convinced al-most everyone that infant emotions vary partly for genetic reasons (M. H. Johnson & Fearon, 2011).

Many other scientists trace the traits of children to aspects of early caregiving and culture. For example, the same study that noted a link between MOA and infant anger compared Dutch and American babies, and it reported that culture was a crucial influence (Sung et al., 2015). The impact of the 7-repeat allele of DRD4 depends on a mother’s reaction to her difficult baby (Windhorst et al., 2015).

The most detailed, longitudinal study of temperament as-sessed the same individuals at 4, 9, 14, 24, and 48 months and again in middle childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The scientists designed laboratory experiments with specif-ics appropriate for the age of the children; collected detailed reports from the mothers and later from the participants themselves; and gathered observational data and physiologi-cal evidence, including brain scans. Past data were reevalu-ated each time, and cross-sectional and international studies were considered (Fox et al., 2001, 2005, 2013; Hane et al., 2008; L. Williams et al., 2010; Jarcho et al., 2013).

Half of the participants did not change much over time, reacting the same way and having similar brain-wave pat-terns when confronted with frightening experiences. Curi-ously, the participants most likely to change from infancy to age 4 were the inhibited, fearful ones. Least likely to change were the exuberant babies (see Figure 4.1). That could be ascribed to the environment, because adults coax frightened infants to be brave but let exuberant children stay happy.

The researchers found unexpected gender differences. As teenagers, the formerly inhibited boys were more likely than the average adolescent to use drugs, but the inhibited girls were less likely to do so (L. Williams et al., 2010). Perhaps shy boys use drugs to become less anxious, but shy girls may be more fearful of authority and more ac-cepted as they are. Is this nature (sex hor-mones) or nurture (social expectations)?

Examination of these participants in adulthood again found intriguing differ-ences between brain and behavior. Those who were inhibited in childhood still showed, in brain scans, evidence of their



WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?

1. What are the first emotions to appear in infants?

2. Why is it better for an infant to express anger than sadness?

3. What do 1-year-olds fear?

4. How do emotions differ between the first and second year of life?

5. How do family interactions and culture shape toddlers’ emotions?

6. What evidence is there that toddlers become more aware of themselves?

7. What is known about the impact of brain maturation on emotions?

8. What is not yet known about how brain maturation affects emotions?

9. How are memory and emotion connected?

10. How does stress affect early brain development?

11. What three dimensions of temperament are evident in children?

12. What is the difference between temperament and personality?

13. Why are temperament traits more apparent in some people than others?

The Development of Social Bonds One resounding conclusion of research in the social sciences is that humans, from the first days of life to the last, are powerfully influenced by other humans. Social bonds affect health and happiness at every age (Hazan & Campa, 2013). Evidence of this in infancy depends partly on the age of the baby. First synchrony, then attachment, and finally social referencing are apparent (see Visualizing Development, p. 144).

SynchronyIdeally, early parent–child interactions are characterized by synchrony, a mutual exchange that requires split-second timing. Metaphors for synchrony are often musical—a waltz, a jazz duet—to emphasize that each partner must be attuned to the other, with moment-by-moment responses. Synchrony is evident in the first three months, becoming more frequent and elaborate as the infant matures ( Feldman, 2007).

synchronyA coordinated, rapid, and smooth exchange of responses between a caregiver and an infant.

Open Wide Synchrony is evident worldwide. It is not easy for parents—notice this father’s neck muscles—but it is a joy for both partners. Every-where babies watch their parents carefully, hoping for exactly what these two parents—each from quite different cultures—express, and re-sponding with such delight that adults relish these moments.

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BOTH PARTNERS ACTIVE Direct observation reveals synchrony. Any-one can see it when watching a caregiver play with an infant who is too young to talk. It is also evident in computer measurement of the millisecond timing of smiles, arched eyebrows, and so on (Messinger et al., 2010). Synchrony is a powerful learning experience for the new human. Infants read others’ emotions and develop social skills, taking turns and watching expressions.

Thus, long before they can reach out and grab, infants respond excit-edly to caregiver attention by waving their arms. They are delighted if the adult moves closer so that a waving arm can touch the face or, even better, a hand can grab hair. You read about this eagerness for interaction (when infants try to “make interesting events last”) in Chapter 3.

In response, adults open their eyes wide, raise their eyebrows, smack their lips, and emit nonsense sounds. Hair-grabbing might make adults bob their head back and forth, in a p layful attempt to shake off the grab, to the infants’ delight, or might cause a sudden

angry expression, with a loud “No” making the infant burst into tears. Even that is better than no response at all.

Synchrony usually begins with adults imitating infants (not vice versa), with tone and rhythm (Van Puyvelde et al., 2010). Adults respond to barely perceptible infant facial expressions and body motions. This helps infants connect their internal state with behaviors that are understood within their culture.

Ideally, parents and infants become partners. This relationship is crucial when the infant is at medical risk. The necessity of time- consuming physical care might over-whelm concern about psychosocial needs, yet those needs are as important for long-term health as are the biological ones (Newnham et al., 2009). Responsiveness to the individual, not simply to the impaired human, leads to a strong, mutual love between parents and child (Solomon, 2012).

NEGLECTED SYNCHRONY In the still-face technique, an infant faces an adult who responds normally while two video cameras simultaneously record their interper-sonal reactions (Tronick, 1989; Tronick & Weinberg, 1997). Frame-by-frame analysis reveals that parents instinctively synchronize their responses to the infants’ move-ments, with exaggerated tone and expression. Babies reciprocate with smiles and flailing limbs. That is synchrony.

Then the adult stops all expression on cue, staring quietly with a “still face” for a minute or two. Sometimes by 2 months, and clearly by 6 months, infants are upset when their parents are unresponsive. Babies frown, fuss, drool, look away, kick, cry, or suck their fingers. By 5 months, they also vocalize, as if to say, “React to me” ( Goldstein et al., 2009).

Many studies of still faces and other interactions reach the same conclusion: Syn-chrony is experience-expectant, not simply experience-dependent. Responsiveness aids psychosocial and biological development, evident in heart rate, weight gain, and brain maturation. Particularly in the first year, mothers who are depressed and anx-ious are less likely to synchronize their responses, and then babies become less able to respond to social cues (Atzil et al., 2014).

For example, one study looked in detail at 4-month-old infants during and im-mediately after the still-face episode (Montirosso et al., 2015). The researchers found three clusters, which they called “socially engaged” (33 percent), “disengaged” (60 percent), and “negatively engaged” (7 percent).

When the mothers were still-faced, the socially engaged babies remained a ctive, looking around at other things. When the still face was over, they quickly re- engaged. The disengaged group became passive, taking longer to return to normal. The negatively engaged were angry and crying, even after the still face ended.

THINK CRITICALLY: What will happen if no one plays with an infant?

still-face techniqueAn experimental practice in which an adult keeps his or her face unmoving and expressionless in face-to-face interaction with an infant.

Tell Me More No observer could doubt that babies are active, respon-sive, social creatures long before they can walk and talk.

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The mothers of each type differed, with the engaged mothers matching the in-fants’ actions (bobbing head, opening mouth, and so on) and the negative mothers almost never matching. The researchers suggest that the “distinctive patterns of in-fants’ individual differences” determined the mothers’ behavior (Montirosso et al., 2015, p. 67). However, as was already explained, other researchers would do the opposite, with mothers determining the infants’ behavior. Either way, a lack of s ynchrony is a troubling sign.

AttachmentToward the end of the first year, face-to-face synchrony almost disappears. Once in-fants can walk, they are no longer content to respond, moment by moment, to adult facial expressions and vocalizations.

Instead attachment becomes evident. Actually, as thousands of researchers on every continent have shown, attachment is lifelong, beginning before birth and influencing relationships throughout life (see At About This Time).

Attachment has been studied with atypical populations (e.g., infants with Down syndrome, with autism spectrum disorder, and so on), with teenagers, and with adults (Simpson & Rholes, 2015; K. Grossmann et al., 2014). This field of study was inspired by John Bowlby’s theories (1982, 1983) and by Mary Ainsworth, who described mother– infant relationships in central Africa 60 years ago (Ainsworth, 1967).

SIGNS OF ATTACHMENT As Ainsworth noted, infants show their attachment through proximity-seeking (such as approaching and following their caregivers) and through contact-maintaining (such as touching, snuggling, and holding). Attachment needs are

attachmentAccording to Ainsworth, “an affectional tie” that an infant forms with a caregiver—a tie that binds them together in space and endures over time.

At About This Time: Stages of Attachment

Birth to 6 weeksPreattachment. Newborns signal, via crying and body movements, that they need others. When people respond positively, the newborn is comforted and learns to seek more interaction. Newborns are also primed by brain patterns to recognize familiar voices and faces.

6 weeks to 8 monthsAttachment in the making. Infants respond preferentially to familiar people by smiling, laughing, babbling. Their caregivers’ voices, touch, expressions, and gestures are comforting, often overriding the infant’s impulse to cry. Trust (Erikson) develops.

8 months to 2 yearsClassic secure attachment. Infants greet their primary caregivers, play happily when they are present, show separation anxiety when their primary caregivers leave. Both infant and caregiver seek to be close to each other (proximity) and frequently look at each other (contact). In many caregiver–infant pairs, physical touch (patting, holding, caressing) is frequent.

2 to 6 yearsAttachment as launching pad. Young children seek their caregivers’ praise and reassurance as their social world expands. Interactive conversations and games (hide-and-seek, object play, reading, pretending) are common. Children expect caregivers to comfort and entertain.

6 to 12 yearsMutual attachment. Children seek to make their caregivers proud by learning whatever adults want them to learn, and adults reciprocate. In concrete operational thought (Piaget), specific accomplishments are valued by adults and children.

12 to 18 yearsNew attachment figures. Teenagers explore and make friendships independent from parents, using their working models of earlier attachments as a base. With formal operational thinking (Piaget), shared ideals and goals become influential.

18 years onAttachment revisited. Adults develop relationships with others, especially relationships with romantic partners and their own children, influenced by earlier attachment patterns. Past insecure attachments from childhood can be repaired rather than repeated, although this does not always happen.

Data from Grobman, 2008.



evident when a baby cries if the caregiver closes the door when going to the bath-room (lost proximity) or fusses if a back-facing car seat prevents the baby from seeing the parent (lost contact).

Some caregivers take the baby into the bathroom, leading to one mother’s com-plaint that she hadn’t been alone in the bathroom for two years (Senior, 2014). Often caregivers sing and talk to the baby when they are out of sight. Maintaining contact need not be physical: Visual or verbal connections can express attachment. Later on, in adulthood, a phone call or a text message may be enough.

Caregivers show many signs that attachment is mutual. They keep a watchful eye on their baby, and they elicit interaction with expressions, gestures, and sounds. B efore going to sleep at midnight they might tiptoe to the crib to gaze at their sleeping infant, or, in daytime, absentmindedly smooth their toddler’s hair.

Attachment is universal, being part of the inborn social nature of the human spe-cies. The particular ways it is expressed depend on culture. For instance, Ainsworth reported that Ugandan mothers never kiss their infants, but they often massage them, contrary to Westerners.

Some adults remain in contact simply by sitting in the same room as each reads quietly. In some cultures, adults often hold hands, hug, or touch each other’s faces, shoulders, or buttocks. Some scholars believe that attachment, not only with moth-ers but also fathers, grandparents, and nonrelatives, is one reason that Homo sapiens thrived when other species became extinct (Hrdy, 2009).

SECURE AND INSECURE ATTACHMENT Attachment is classified into four types: A, B, C, and D (see Table 4.1). Infants with secure attachment (type B) feel comfort-able and confident. The caregiver is a base for exploration, providing assurance and enabling discovery. A toddler might, for example, scramble down from the c aregiver’s lap to play with an intriguing toy but periodically look back and vocalize (contact- maintaining) or bring the toy to the caregiver for inspection (proximity-seeking).

By contrast, insecure attachment (types A and C) is characterized by fear, anxi-ety, anger, or indifference. Some insecure children play independently without maintaining contact; this is insecure-avoidant attachment (type A). The opposite reaction is insecure-resistant/ambivalent attachment (type C). Children with this type of attachment cling to the caregiver and are angry at being left.

Ainsworth’s original schema differentiated only types A, B, and C. Later research-ers discovered a fourth category (type D), disorganized attachment. Type D in-fants may shift suddenly from hitting to kissing their mothers, from staring blankly to crying hysterically, from pinching themselves to freezing in place.

Among the general population, almost two-thirds of infants are secure (type B). Their mothers’ presence gives them courage to explore; her departure causes distress;

Video Activity: Mother Love and the Work of Harry Harlow features classic footage of Harlow’s research, showing the setup and results of his favorite experiment.

secure attachmentA relationship in which an infant obtains both comfort and confidence from the presence of his or her caregiver.

insecure-avoidant attachment A pattern of attachment in which an infant avoids connection with the caregiver, as when the infant seems not to care about the caregiver’s presence, departure, or return.

insecure-resistant/ambivalent attachmentA pattern of attachment in which an infant’s anxiety and uncertainty are evident, as when the infant becomes very upset at separation from the caregiver, such infants both resist and seek contact on reunion.

disorganized attachment A type of attachment that is marked by an infant’s inconsistent reactions to the caregiver’s departure and return.

TABLE 4.1 Patterns of Infant Attachment

Type Name of Pattern In Playroom Mother Leaves Mother ReturnsToddlers in Category (%)

A Insecure-avoidant Child plays happily.

Child continues playing.

Child ignores her. 10–20

B Secure Child plays happily.

Child pauses, is not as happy.

Child welcomes her, returns to play.

50–70

C Insecure-resistant/ ambivalent

Child clings, is preoccupied with mother.

Child is unhappy, may stop playing.

Child is angry; may cry, hit mother, cling.

10–20

D Disorganized Child is cautious. Child may stare or yell; looks scared, confused.

Child acts oddly; may scream, hit self, throw things.

5–10



her return elicits positive social contact (such as smiling or hugging) and then more playing. The infant’s balanced reaction—being concerned but not overwhelmed by comings and goings—indicates security. Early research was only on mothers. Later, fathers and other caregivers were included; they also had secure or insecure attach-ments to their infants.

About one-third of infants are insecure, either indifferent (type A) or unduly anx-ious (type C). About 5 to 10 percent of infants fit into none of these categories; they are disorganized (type D), with no consistent strategy for social interaction, even avoidance or resistance. Sometimes they become hostile and aggressive, difficult for anyone to relate to (Lyons-Ruth et al., 1999). Unlike the first three types, dis-organized infants have elevated levels of cortisol in reaction to stress (Bernard & Dozier, 2010).

MEASURING ATTACHMENT Ainsworth (1973) developed a now-classic labora-tory procedure called the Strange Situation to measure attachment. In a well-equipped playroom, an infant is observed for eight episodes, each lasting three minutes. First, the child and mother are together. Next, according to a set sequence, the mother and then a stranger come and go. Infants’ responses indicate which type of attachment they have formed.

Researchers are trained to distinguish types A, B, C, and D. They focus on the following:

l Exploration of the toys. A secure toddler plays happily.

l Reaction to the caregiver’s departure. A secure toddler shows some sign of dismay when the caregiver leaves.

l Reaction to the caregiver’s return. A secure toddler welcomes the caregiver’s reap-pearance, usually seeking contact, and then plays again.

Attachment is not always measured via the Strange Situation; surveys and in-terviews are also used. Sometimes parents answer 90 questions about their chil-dren’s characteristics, and sometimes adults are interviewed extensively (according to a detailed protocol) about their relationships with their own parents, again with various specific measurements. Attachment can be assessed in middle school children, adolescents who are dating, and with an entire family, via verbal responses or actions (Farnfield & Holmes, 2014).

Research measuring attachment has revealed that some behaviors that might seem normal are, in fact, a sign of insecurity. For instance, an infant who clings to the caregiver and refuses to explore the toys might be type C. Likewise, adults who say their childhood was happy and their mother was a saint, especially if they provide

Strange Situation A laboratory procedure for measuring attachment by evoking infants’ reactions to the stress of various adults’ comings and goings in an unfamiliar playroom.

Excited, Troubled, Comforted This sequence is repeated daily for 1-year-olds, which is why the same sequence is replicated to measure attachment. As you see, toys are no substitute for a mother’s comfort if the infant or tod-dler is secure, as this one seems to be. Some, however, cry inconsolably or throw toys angrily when left alone.

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few specific memories, might be insecure. And young children who are immediately friendly to strangers may never have formed a secure attachment (Tarullo et al., 2011).

Assessments of attachment that were developed and validated for middle-class North Americans may be less useful in other cultures. Infants who seem dismissive or clingy in the Strange Situation may not necessarily be insecure.

Insecure Attachment and the Social SettingAt first, developmentalists expected secure attachment in infancy to “predict all the outcomes reasonably expected from a well-functioning personality” (Thompson & Raikes, 2003, p. 708). But this expectation turned out to be naive.

Securely attached infants are more likely to become secure toddlers, compe-tent preschoolers, high-achieving schoolchildren, and capable parents. Attachment affects early brain development, one reason these later outcomes occur (Diamond & Fagundes, 2010). But insecure infants are not doomed to later failure.

Although attachment patterns form in infancy (see Table 4.2), they are not set in stone; a securely attached infant may become insecure if the family context changes, such as with new abuse or income loss. Poverty increases the likelihood of insecure attachment, and insecure attachment correlates with later learning problems, but a third variable may be the reason for this correlation.

The third variable most often suggested is low SES. Hostile children, fearful adults, delayed language, and low school achievement all correlate with low parental educa-tion, as does insecure attachment. The premise—that responsive early parenting leads to secure attachment, which buffers stress and encourages exploration—seems valid, but lack of attachment may be a sign of deeper social problems. Low SES is prob-lematic in many ways, but we should note that both secure and insecure attachment occur at every income level.

Certainly infant responses in the Strange Situation are only one measure of the parent–child relationship. Linking attachment measured by the Strange Situation di-rectly to later problems may not be warranted, especially in cultures with other pat-terns of mother–child interaction (Keller, 2014).

TABLE 4.2 Predictors of Attachment Type

Secure attachment (type B) is more likely if:

• The parent is usually sensitive and responsive to the infant’s needs.

• The infant–parent relationship is high in synchrony.

• The infant’s temperament is “easy.”

• The parents are not stressed about income, other children, or their marriage.

• The parents have a working model of secure attachment to their own parents.

Insecure attachment is more likely if:

• The parent mistreats the child. (Neglect increases type A; abuse increases types C and D.)

• The mother is mentally ill. (Paranoia increases type D; depression increases type C.)

• The parents are highly stressed about income, other children, or their marriage. (Parental stress increases types A and D.)

• The parents are intrusive and controlling. (Parental domination increases type A.)

• The parents actively abuse alcohol. (Father with alcohol use disorder increases type A; mother with alcohol use disorder increases type D.)

• The child’s temperament is “difficult.” (Difficult children tend to be type C.)

• The child’s temperament is “slow to warm up.” (This correlates with type A.)



INSIGHTS FROM ROMANIA No scholar doubts that close human relationships should develop in the first year of life and that the lack of such relationships risks dire conse-quences. Unfortunately, thousands of children born in Romania are proof.

When Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausesçu forbade birth control and abortions in the 1980s, illegal abortions became a leading cause of death for Romanian women aged 15 to 45 (Verona, 2003), and more than 100,000 children were abandoned to crowded, impersonal, state-run orphanages. The children experienced severe depri-vation, including virtually no normal interaction, play, or conversation.

In the two years after Ceausesçu was ousted and killed in 1989, thousands of those children were adopted by North American, western European, and Australian fami-lies. Those who were adopted before 6 months of age fared best; the adoptive parents established synchrony via play and caregiving. Most of them developed normally.

For those adopted after 6 months, and especially after 12 months, early signs were encouraging: Skinny infants gained weight and grew faster than other 1-year-olds, developing motor skills they had lacked (H. Park et al., 2011). However, their early social deprivation soon became evident in their emotions and intellect. Many were overly friendly to strangers throughout childhood, a sign of insecure attachment ( Tarullo et al., 2011). At age 11, their average IQ was only 85, which is 15 points below normal (Rutter et al., 2010).

Even those who were well nourished or who caught up to normal growth often became impulsive, angry teenagers. Apparently, the stresses of adolescence and emerging adulthood exacerbated the cognitive and social strains on these young people and their families (Merz & McCall, 2011).

These children are now adults, some with serious emotional or conduct problems. The cause is more social than biological. Research on children adopted n ationally and internationally finds that many become normal adults, but every stress—from rejection in infancy to early institutionalization to the circumstances of the adoption process—makes a good outcome more difficult to attain (Grotevant & McDermott, 2014).

Romanian infants are no longer available for international adoption, even though some remain abandoned. Research confirms that early emotional deprivation, not genes or nutrition, is their greatest problem. Romanian infants develop best in their own fam-ilies, second best in foster families, and worst in institutions (Nelson et al., 2007).

As best we know, this applies to infants everywhere: Families usually nurture their babies better than strangers who care for many infants at once, and the more years children spend in an impersonal institution, the more likely it is they will become socially and intellectually impaired (Julian, 2013).

Predict Their Future These three infants, photographed in Romania in 1990, are now young adults, still affected by the deprivation evident here.

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OBSERVATION QUIZWhat three possible dangers do you see? (see answer, page 145) ➤



V I S U A L I Z I N G D E V E L O P M E N T

Developing Attachment Attachment begins at birth and continues lifelong. Much depends not only on the ways in which parents and babies bond, but also on the quality and consistency of caregiv-

ing, the safety and security of the home environment, and individual and family experience. While the patterns set in infancy may echo in later life, they are not determinative.

HOW MANY CHILDREN ARE SECURELY ATTACHED?

The specific percentages of children who are secure and insecure vary by culture, parent responsiveness, and specific temperament and needs of both the child and the care-giver. Generally, about a third of all 1-year-olds seem insecure.

ATTACHMENT IN THE STRANGE SITUATION MAY INFLUENCE RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH THE LIFE SPAN

Attachment patterns formed early affect adults lifelong, but later experiences of love and rejection may change early patterns. Researchers measure attachment by examining children’s behaviors in the Strange Situation where they are separated from their parent and play in a room with an unfamiliar caregiver. These early patterns can influence later adult relationships. As life goes on, people become more or less secure, avoidant, or disorganized.

10–20% 5–10%10–20%50–70%Avoidant Attachment (Type A)

Disorganized Attachment

(Type D)

Ambivalent Attachment (Type C)

Securely Attached (Type B)

THE CONTINUUM OF ATTACHMENT

Avoidance and anxiety occur along a continuum. Neither genes nor cultural varia-tions were understood when the Strange Situation was first developed (in 1965). Some contemporary reseachers believe the link between childhood attachment and adult personality is less straightforward. Secure

DisorganizedAvoidant

Resistant

Low Avoidance

High Avoidance

High AnxietyLow Anxiety

Securely Attached [Type B]

In the Strange Situation, children are able to separate from caregiver but prefer caregiver to strangers.

Later in life, they tend to have good relationships and good self-esteem.

Avoidant [Type A]

In the Strange Situation, children avoid caregiver. Later in life, they tend to be aloof in personal relationships.

Resistant/Ambivalent [Type C]

In the Strange Situation, children appear upset and wor-ried when separated from caregiver; they may hit or cling.

Later in life, their relationships may be angry, stormy, unpredictable.

Disorganized [Type D]

In the Strange Situation, children appear angry, confused, erratic, or fearful.

Later in life, they can demonstrate odd behavior—including sudden emotions.



Fortunately, in eastern Europe and elsewhere, institutions have improved or been shuttered; recent international adoptees (often now from Central America or sub-Saharan Africa) are not as impaired as those Romanian orphans (Grotevant & McDermott , 2014). Many nations have severe restrictions on international adoptions, in part because some children were literally snatched from their biological parents to be sent abroad. The number of international adoptees in the United States was 8,668 in 2012, down from 22,884 in 2004.

However, some infants in every nation are deprived of healthy interaction, some-times within their own families. Ideally, no infant is institutionalized, but if that ideal is not reached, institutions need to change so that psychological health is as im-portant as physical health (McCall, 2013). Children need responsive caregivers, who could be their biological relatives but could be unrelated. When international adop-tions become a pawn in international disputes, as in 2014 between the United States and Russia, children suffer.

PREVENTING PROBLEMS All infants need love and stimulation; all seek synchrony and then attachment—secure if possible, insecure if not. Without some adult support, infants become disorganized and adrift, emotionally troubled. Extreme early social deprivation is difficult to overcome.

Since synchrony and attachment develop over the first year, and since more than one-third of all parents have difficulty establishing secure attachments, many devel-opmentalists have sought to discover what particularly impairs these parents and what can be done to improve their parenting. We know that secure attachment is more difficult to achieve when the parents were abused as children, when fami-lies are socially isolated, when mothers are young adolescents, or when infants are u nusually difficult (Zeanah et al., 2011).

Some birth parents, fearing that they cannot provide responsive parenting, choose adoptive parents. This is best done at birth so that synchrony and attachment can

ANSWER TO OBSERVATION QUIZ(from page 143) Social isolation (the sheet around the crib), lead poisoning (note that two babies are biting the painted bars), and injured limbs or even strangulation (note the bent crib slats, farther apart than U.S. law allows). l

Doubly Connected Debbie Stec has breast-fed her baby for more than a year while keeping her professional contacts. She is from Jordan, Ontario; her husband has a flexible schedule; and her SES is high—which of these three circumstances promotes breast-feeding? Or, perhaps the strong attachment she and her infant have established is more personal, her choice and her baby’s need.

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develop (McCall, 2013). If high-risk birth parents want to provide good care, early support may prevent later problems. Everywhere, parents and infants are attached to each other, and everywhere secure attachment predicts academic success and emotional stability (Erdman & Ng, 2010; Otto & Keller, 2014; Drake et al., 2014).

Social ReferencingSocial referencing refers to seeking emotional responses or information from other people, much as a student might consult a dictionary or other reference work. Some-one’s reassuring glance, cautionary words, or a facial expression of alarm, pleasure, or dismay—those are social references.

Even at 8 months, infants notice where other people are looking and use that in-formation to look in the same direction themselves (Tummeltshammer et al., 2014). After age 1, when infants can walk and are “little scientists,” their need to consult others becomes urgent as well as more accurate.

Toddlers search for clues in gazes, faces, and body positions, paying close attention to emotions and intentions. They focus on their familiar caregivers, but they also use relatives, other children, and even strangers to help them assess objects and events. They are remarkably selective, noticing that some strangers are reliable references and others are not (Fusaro & Harris, 2013).

Social referencing has many practical applications. Consider mealtime. Caregivers the world over smack their lips, pretend to taste, and say “yum-yum,” encouraging

toddlers to eat their first beets, liver, or spinach. For their part, toddlers become astute at reading expressions, insisting on the foods that the adults really like. If mother likes it, and presents it on the spoon, then they eat it—otherwise not (Shutts et al., 2013).

Through this process, some children develop a taste for raw fish or curried goat or smelly cheese—foods that children in other cultures re-

fuse, sometimes pretending to gag when presented with delicacies that other chil-dren covet. Similarly, toddlers use social cues to understand the difference between real and pretend eating, as well as to learn which objects, emotions, and activities are forbidden.

Fathers as Social PartnersFathers enhance their children’s social and emotional development in many ways (Lamb, 2010). Synchrony, attachment, and social referencing are sometimes more ap-parent with fathers than with mothers. Fathers typically elicit more smiles and laugh-ter from their infants than mothers do, probably because they play more exciting games, while mothers do more caregiving and comforting (Fletcher et al., 2013).

When asked to play with their baby, mothers typically caress, read, sing, or play traditional games such as peek-a-boo. Fathers are more exciting: They move their infant’s limbs in imitation of walking, kicking, or climbing, or they swing the baby through the air, sideways, or even upside down. Mothers might say, “Don’t drop him”; fathers and babies laugh with joy. In this way, fathers tend to help children become less fearful.

THINK CRITICALLY: Is the Strange Situation a valid way to measure attachment in every culture, or is it biased toward Western idea of the ideal mother–child relationship?

social referencing Seeking information about how to react to an unfamiliar or ambiguous object or event by observing someone else’s expressions and reactions. That other person becomes a social reference.

Rotini Pasta? Look again. Every family teaches their children to relish delicacies that other people avoid. Examples are bacon (not in Arab na-tions), hamburgers (not in India), and, as shown here, a witchetty grub. This Aboriginal Australian boy is about to swallow an insect larva.

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Not Manly? Where did that idea come from? Fathers worldwide provide e xcellent care for their toddlers and enjoy it, evident in the United States ( left) and India (right), and in every other nation.

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ETHNIC AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES Some people still hold the prejudice that African American, Latin American, and Asian American fathers are less nurturing and more strict than other men. In fact, the opposite may be true (Parke, 2013).

Within every ethnic group in the United States, contemporary fathers tend to be more involved with their infants than fathers once were. Fathers are also affected by income (stressed parents are less nurturing) and by where they live. As with humans of all age, social contexts are influential: Fathers are influenced by other fathers (Roopnarine & Hossain, 2013; Qin & Chang, 2013). Thus, fathers of every ethnic group are aware of what other men are doing, and that affects their own behavior.

Close father–infant relationships can teach infants (especially boys) appropriate expressions of emotion, particularly anger. The results may endure: Teenagers are less likely to lash out at friends and authorities if, as infants, they experienced a warm, responsive relationship with their father (Hoeve et al., 2011).

Less rigid gender roles seem to be developing in every nation, allowing a greater caregiving role for fathers (Shwalb et al., 2013). One U.S. example of historical change is the number of married women with children under age 6 who are employed. In 1970, 30 percent of married mothers of young children earned paychecks; in 2012, 60 percent did (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). These statistics include many mothers of infants, who often rely on the baby’s father for child care.

Note the reference to “married” mothers: About half new mothers of infants in the United States are not married, and their employment rates are higher than their married counterparts. Their baby’s father—cohabiting or not—may care for their children when mothers are at work.

The fact that father involvement with infants varies by culture, and that fathers tend to be more involved than they were a few decades ago, should not obscure another truth—fathers everywhere and always have cared about their children. To understand this, you need to understand allocare—the care of children by people other than the mother (Hrdy, 2009). Allocare is essential for Homo sapiens’ survival.

Compared with many other species (for instance, mother chimpanzees never let another chimp hold their babies), human mothers have evolved to let other people help with child care, and other people are usually eager to do so (Kachel et al., 2011).

allocare Literally, “other-care”; the care of children by people other than the biological parents.



Throughout the centuries, the particular person to provide allocare has varied by culture and ecological conditions.

Often fathers helped but not always: Some men were far away, fighting, hunting, or seeking work, while some had several wives and a dozen or more children. In those situations, other women (daughters, grandmothers, sisters, friends) and s ometimes other men provided allocare (Hrdy, 2009).

FAMILY COOPERATION Fathers and mothers often work together to raise the children. One researcher reports “mothers and fathers showed patterns of striking s imilarity: they touched, looked, vocalized, rocked, and kissed their newborns equally” (Parke, 2013, p. 121). Differences were apparent from one couple to another, but not from one gender to another—except for smiling (women did it more).

Children benefit when both parents are caregivers. It is still true, in every culture and ethnic group, that the average father spends much less time with infants than mothers do (Parke, 2013; Tudge, 2008). Some women are gatekeepers, believing that child care is their special domain. They imply that fathers are incompetent (perhaps saying, “You’re not holding her right”), laying out the clothes the baby is to wear, as if the father could not find clothes on his own (Pedersen & Kilzer, 2014).

Over the past 20 years, father–infant research has tried to answer three questions:

1. Can men provide care for infants as well as women can?

2. Is father–infant interaction different from mother–infant interaction?

3. How do fathers and mothers cooperate to provide infant care?

Many studies over the past two decades have answered yes to the first two ques-tions. A baby fed, bathed, and diapered by Dad is just as happy and clean as when Mom does it. Gender differences are sometimes found in details, but babies thrive in father-care or mother-care. Fathers’ play may be more exciting—they wrestle, chase, and throw more—but they can be as responsive as mothers are.

On the third question, the answer depends on the family (Bretherton, 2010). Usu-ally, mothers are caregivers and fathers are playmates, but not always. Each couple, given their circumstances (perhaps immigrant, low-income, or same-sex), seeks how to complement each other to help their infant thrive (Lamb, 2010). Traditional mother–father roles may be switched with no harm to the baby (Parke, 2013).

A constructive parental alliance can take many forms, but it cannot be taken for granted, no matter what the family configuration. Single-parent, same-sex, or grandparent families are not necessarily better or worse than nuclear families; each family can find a way to provide good care.

Same Situation, Far Apart: Safekeeping Historically, grandmoth-ers were sometimes crucial for child survival. Now, even though medical care has reduced child mortality, grandmothers still do their part to keep c hildren safe, as shown by these two—in the eastern United States (left) and Vietnam (right).

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A CASE TO STUDY

Can We Bear This Commitment?

Parents and children capture my attention, wherever they are. Today I saw one mother ignoring her stroller-bound toddler on a crowded subway (I wanted to tell her to talk to her child) and another mother breast-feed a happy 7-month-old in a public park (which was illegal three decades ago). I look for signs of secure or insecure attachment—the contact-maintaining and proximity-seeking moves that parents do, seemingly unaware that they are responding to primordial depths of human love.

I particularly observe families I know. I am struck by the powerful bond between parent and child, as strong or stron-ger in adoptive families as in genetic ones.

One adoptive couple is Macky and Nick with their two daughters. I see them echoing my own experiences with my four. Two examples: When Alice was a few days old, I over-heard Nick phone another parent, asking which detergent is best for washing baby clothes. Another time, when Macky was engrossed in conversation, Nick interrupted him to in-sist it was time to get the girls home for their nap.

My appreciation of their attachment was cemented by a third incident. In Macky’s words:

I’ll never forget the Fourth of July at the spacious home of my mother-in-law’s best friend. It was a perfect cel-ebration on a perfect day. Kids frolicked in the pool. Parents socialized nearby, on the sun-drenched lawn or inside the cool house. Many guests had published books on parenting; we imagined they admired our happy, thriving family.

My husband and I have two daughters, Alice who was then 7 and Penelope who was 4. They learned to swim early and are always the first to jump in the pool and the last to leave. Great children, even if their parents have dropped the ball a time or two.

After hours of swimming, the four of us scrambled up to dry land. We walked across the long lawn to join the lunching folk and enjoy hot dogs, relish, mustard, and juicy watermelon.

Suddenly we heard a heart-chilling wail. Panicked, I raced to the pool’s edge to see the motionless body of a small child who had gone unnoticed underwater for too long. His blue face was still. Someone was giving CPR. His mother kept wailing, panicked, pleading, de-stroyed. I had a shameful thought—thank God that is not my child.

He lived. He regained his breath and was whisked away by ambulance. The party came to a quick close.

We four, skin tingling from the summer sun, hearts beating from the near-death of a child who was my kids’ playmate an hour before, drove away.

Turning to Nick, I asked: “Can we bear this commit-ment we have made? Can we raise our children in the face of all hazards—some we try to prevent, others be-yond our control?”

That was five years ago. Our children are flourishing. Our confidence is strong and so are our emotions. But it takes only a moment to recognize just how entwined our well-being is with our children and how fragile life is. We are deeply grateful.

A Grateful Family This family photo shows, from left to right, Nick, Penelope, Macky, and Alice with their dog Cooper. When they adopted Alice as a newborn, the parents said, “This is a miracle we feared would never happen.”

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Sometimes no one provides good care. One study reported that 7 per-cent of fathers of 1-year-olds were depressed, and then they were four times as likely to spank as were non-depressed fathers (40 percent versus 10 percent) (Davis et al., 2011) (see Figure 4.2). Thus parental depression, whether it be maternal or paternal, is harmful. We cannot assume that mothers, or fathers, will always be good caregivers.

Family members affect each other. Paternal depression correlates with maternal depression and with sad, angry, disobedient toddlers. Cause

and consequence are intertwined. When anyone is depressed or hostile, e veryone (mother, father, baby, sibling) needs help.


1. How might synchrony affect early emotional development?

2. What would an infant do to demonstrate attachment?

3. How would a caregiver try to maintain proximity and contact?

4. How would a type B secure adult act in a romantic relationship?

5. How would a type A insecure adult act in a romantic relationship?

6. How would a type C insecure adult act in a romantic relationship?

7. How do negative circumstances (e.g., divorce, abuse, low SES) affect attachment?

8. What can be done to improve the parent–child bond?

9. Whom do infants use as social references?

10. Why is allocare necessary for survival of the human species?

11. How is father-care similar to mother-care?

12. How does father-care differ from mother-care?

13. What ethnic and cohort differences are apparent in father-care?

Theories of Infant Psychosocial Development We focus now on ideas regarding infant development from three theories first men-tioned in Chapter 1—psychoanalytic, behaviorist, and cognitive. Highlighting these three does not imply that other theories are irrelevant to infancy. In fact, one theory (attachment theory) has just been explained. Another theory, evolutionary theory, has been instrumental in describing allocare, which is crucial for infant development. However, psychoanalytic, behaviorist, and cognitive theories are now explained be-cause each has explicit predictions regarding infant emotions.

Psychoanalytic TheoryPsychoanalytic theory connects biological and social growth. Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson each described two distinct stages of early development, one in the first year and one beginning in the second.

Video: Theories of Emotional Development in Infancy and T oddlerhood summarizes the theo-ries of personality development de-scribed in this section.

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FIGURE 4.2 Shame on Who? Not on the toddlers, who are naturally curious and careless, but maybe not on the fathers either. Both depression and spanking are affected by financial stress, marital conflict, and cultural norms; who is responsible for those?

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FREUD: ORAL AND ANAL STAGES According to Freud (1935/1989, 2001), the first year of life is the oral stage, so named because the mouth is the young infant’s primary source of grati-fication. In the second year, with the anal stage, pleasure comes from the anus—particularly from the sensual satisfaction of bowel movements and, eventually, the psychological pleasure of controlling them.

Freud believed that the oral and anal stages are fraught with potential conflicts. If a mother frustrates her infant’s urge to suck—weaning too early, for example, or preventing the baby from sucking a thumb or a pacifier—that may later lead to an oral fixation. An adult with an oral fixation is stuck (fixated) at the oral stage, and therefore, eats, drinks, chews, bites, or talks excessively, still seeking the mouthy joys of infancy.

Similarly, if toilet training is overly strict or if it begins too early, then the toddler’s refusal—or inability—to comply clashes with the wishes of the adult, who denies the infant normal anal pleasures. That may lead to an anal personality—an adult who seeks control, with a strong need for regularity and cleanliness in all aspects of life.

ERIKSON: TRUST AND AUTONOMY According to Erikson, the first crisis of life is trust versus mistrust, when infants learn whether or not the world can be trusted to satisfy basic needs. Babies feel secure when food and comfort are provided with “consistency, continuity, and sameness of experience” (Erikson, 1993, p. 247). If s ocial interaction inspires trust, the child (later the adult) confidently explores the social world.

The second crisis is autonomy versus shame and doubt, beginning at about 18 months, when self-awareness emerges. Toddlers want autonomy (self-rule) over their own actions and bodies. Without it, they feel ashamed and doubtful. Like Freud, Erikson believed that problems in early infancy could last a lifetime, creating adults who are suspicious and pessimistic (mistrusting) or easily shamed (lacking autonomy).

Erikson was aware of cultural variations. He knew that mistrust and shame could be destructive or not, depending on local norms and expectations.

For example, Westerners expect toddlers to go through the stubborn and defiant “terrible twos”; that is a sign of the urge for autonomy. Parents in some other places expect toddlers to be obedient. Those parents use shame to control misbehavior.

Cultural pressures are conveyed to children. For example, a study of children found the Japanese highest in shame, the Koreans highest in guilt, and the U.S. chil-dren highest in pride (Furukawa et al., 2012). Not surprisingly, U.S. children are less fearful but also less obedient.

BehaviorismFrom the perspective of behaviorism, emotions and personality are molded as parents reinforce or punish a child. Behaviorists believe that parents who respond joyously to every glimmer of a grin will have children with a sunny disposition. The opposite is also true, according to one of the early behaviorists:

Failure to bring up a happy child, a well-adjusted child—assuming bodily health—falls squarely upon the parents’ shoulders. [By the time the child is 3] parents have already determined . . . [whether the child] is to grow into a happy person, whole-some and good-natured, whether he is to be a whining, complaining neurotic, an anger-driven, vindictive, over-bearing slave driver, or one whose every move in life is definitely controlled by fear.

[Watson, 1928, pp. 7, 45]

trust versus mistrustErikson’s first crisis of psychosocial development. Infants learn basic trust if the world is a secure place where their basic needs (for food, comfort, attention, and so on) are met.

autonomy versus shame and doubt Erikson’s second crisis of psychosocial development. Toddlers either succeed or fail in gaining a sense of self-rule over their actions and their bodies.

All Together Now Toddlers in an employees’ day-care program at a flower farm in Colombia learn to use the potty on a schedule. Will this experience lead to later personality problems? Probably not.

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Later behaviorists recognized that infants’ behavior also has an element of social learning, as infants learn from other people. You already saw an example, social referencing. Social learning occurs throughout life, as Bandura and many others demonstrated. Sensitive parents are able to teach because infants are eager to learn from them, as in this example.

Kevin is a very active, outgoing person who loves to try new things. Today he takes his 11-month-old daughter, Tyra, to the park for the first time. Tyra is playing alone in the sandbox, when a group of tod-dlers joins her. At first, Tyra smiles and eagerly watches them play. But as the toddlers become more active and noisy, Tyra’s smiles turn quickly to tears. She . . . reaches for Kevin, who picks her up and comforts her. But then Kevin goes a step further. After Tyra calms down, Kevin gently encourages her to play near the other chil-dren. He sits at her side, talking and playing with her. Soon Tyra is slowly creeping closer to the group of toddlers, curiously watching their moves.

[Lerner & Dombro, 2004, p. 42]

A more general example of social learning is that toddlers express emotions in various ways—from giggling to cursing—just as their parents or older siblings do. For example, a boy might develop a hot temper if his father’s outbursts seem to win his mother’s respect; a girl might be coy, or passive-aggressive, if that is what she has seen at home. These examples are deliberately sexist: Gender roles, in particular, are learned, according to social learning theory.

Parents often unwittingly encourage traits in their children. Should parents carry infants most of the time, or will that spoil them? Should babies have many toys, or will that make them too materialistic?

Answers to these questions refer to the distinction between proximal parenting (being physically close to a baby, often holding and touching) and distal parenting (keeping some distance—providing toys, encouraging self-feeding, talking face-to-face instead of communicating by touch). Caregiv-ers tend to behave in proximal or distal ways very early, when infants are only 2 months old (Kärtner et al., 2010).

Every parental action is influenced by whatever as-sumptions the culture holds. According to behavior-ism, each action reinforces a lesson that the baby learns, in this case about people and objects.

Cognitive TheoryCognitive theory holds that thoughts deter-mine a person’s perspective. Early experiences are i mportant because beliefs, perceptions, and memories make them so, not because they are buried in the unconscious (psychoanalytic theory) or burned into the brain’s patterns (behaviorism).

social learning The acquisition of behavior patterns by observing the behavior of others.

Only in America Toddlers in every nation of the world sometimes cry when emo-tions overwhelm them, but in the United States young children are encouraged to express emotions, and Halloween is a national custom, unlike in other nations. Candy, dress-up, ghosts, witches, and ringing doorbells after sunset—no wonder many young children are overwhelmed.

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The Best Baby Transport Stroller or sling, carriage or carrier, leave ba-bies at home or bring them to work? Such decisions are strongly influenced by culture, with long-lasting implica-tions. Mothers compare particular brands and designs of strollers, trying to decide on the best one, but it rarely occurs to them that taking the baby outside is itself a major decision.

proximal parenting Caregiving practices that involve being physically close to the baby, with frequent holding and touching.

distal parenting Caregiving practices that involve remaining distant from the baby, providing toys, food, and face-to-face communication with minimal holding and touching.

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Later behaviorists recognized that infants’ behavior also has an element of social learning, as infants learn from other people. You already saw an example, social referencing. Social learning occurs throughout life, as Bandura and many others demonstrated. Sensitive parents are able to teach because infants are eager to learn from them, as in this example.

Kevin is a very active, outgoing person who loves to try new things. Today he takes his 11-month-old daughter, Tyra, to the park for the first time. Tyra is playing alone in the sandbox, when a group of tod-dlers joins her. At first, Tyra smiles and eagerly watches them play. But as the toddlers become more active and noisy, Tyra’s smiles turn quickly to tears. She . . . reaches for Kevin, who picks her up and comforts her. But then Kevin goes a step further. After Tyra calms down, Kevin gently encourages her to play near the other chil-dren. He sits at her side, talking and playing with her. Soon Tyra is slowly creeping closer to the group of toddlers, curiously watching their moves.

[Lerner & Dombro, 2004, p. 42]

A more general example of social learning is that toddlers express emotions in various ways—from giggling to cursing—just as their parents or older siblings do. For example, a boy might develop a hot temper if his father’s outbursts seem to win his mother’s respect; a girl might be coy, or passive-aggressive, if that is what she has seen at home. These examples are deliberately sexist: Gender roles, in particular, are learned, according to social learning theory.

Parents often unwittingly encourage traits in their children. Should parents carry infants most of the time, or will that spoil them? Should babies have many toys, or will that make them too materialistic?

Answers to these questions refer to the distinction between proximal parenting (being physically close to a baby, often holding and touching) and distal parenting (keeping some distance—providing toys, encouraging self-feeding, talking face-to-face instead of communicating by touch). Caregiv-ers tend to behave in proximal or distal ways very early, when infants are only 2 months old (Kärtner et al., 2010).

Every parental action is influenced by whatever as-sumptions the culture holds. According to behavior-ism, each action reinforces a lesson that the baby learns, in this case about people and objects.

Cognitive TheoryCognitive theory holds that thoughts deter-mine a person’s perspective. Early experiences are i mportant because beliefs, perceptions, and memories make them so, not because they are buried in the unconscious (psychoanalytic theory) or burned into the brain’s patterns (behaviorism).

social learning The acquisition of behavior patterns by observing the behavior of others.

According to many cognitive theorists, early experiences help infants develop a working model, which is a set of assumptions that becomes a frame of reference for later life (S. Johnson et al., 2010). It is a “model” because early relationships form a prototype, or blueprint; it is “working” because it is a work in progress, not fixed or final.

Ideally, infants develop “a working model of the self as lovable, and competent” because the parents are “emotionally available, loving, and supportive of their mas-tery efforts” (Harter, 2012, p. 12). However, reality does not always conform to this ideal. A 1-year-old girl might develop a model, based on her parents’ inconsistent responses to her, that people are unpredictable. She will continue to apply that model to everyone: Her childhood friendships will be insecure, and her adult relationships will be guarded.

The crucial idea, according to cognitive theory, is that an infant’s early experiences themselves are not necessarily pivotal, but the interpretation of those experiences is (Olson & Dweck, 2009). Children may misinterpret their experiences, or parents may offer inaccurate explanations, and these form ideas that affect later thinking and behavior.

In this way, working models formed in childhood echo lifelong. A hopeful mes-sage from cognitive theory is that people can rethink and reorganize their thoughts, developing new models. Our mistrustful girl might marry a faithful and loving man and gradually develop a new working model. The form of psychotherapy that seems most successful at the moment is called cognitive-behavioral, in which new thoughts about how to behave are developed. In other words, a new working model is developed.


1. What might happen if a person is stuck in the oral stage?

2. What might happen if a person is stuck in the anal stage?

3. How might the crisis of “trust versus mistrust” affect later life?

4. How might the crisis of “autonomy versus shame and doubt” affect later life?

5. How do behaviorists explain the development of emotions and personality?

6. What emotional reactions might children learn from watching their parents?

7. How would a child develop a working model about expressing emotions?

8. What would change an adult’s working model?

Infant Day CareCultural variations in infant care are vast. No theory directly endorses any particu-lar caregiving practice, but each of these theories has been used to justify radically different responses. This is particularly obvious in infant day care, a topic on which developmentalists disagree.

For ideological as well as economic reasons, center-based infant care is com-mon in France, Israel, China, Norway, and Sweden, where it is heavily subsidized by the government. Many families in those nations consider that the govern-ment’s provision of quality center care is a public obligation, in the same way that people assume that the public fire department will extinguish fires everywhere in the city.

working model In cognitive theory, a set of assumptions that the individual uses to organize perceptions and experiences. For example, a person might assume that other people are trustworthy and be surprised if someone lies, cheats, or betrays a confidence.



Center care is scarce in South Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where many par-ents believe it would be harmful to infants’ well-being. (Table 4.3 lists five essential characteristics of high-quality infant day care, wherever it may be located.)

Many Choices, Many CulturesIt is estimated that about 134 million babies will be born each year from 2010 to 2021 (United Nations, 2013). Most newborns are cared for primarily or exclusively by their mothers. Allocare, especially by the father and grandmother, increases as the baby gets older. Daily care by a nonrelative, trained and paid to provide it, occurs for only about 15 percent of infants worldwide, a statistic that obscures the range from one culture to another.

As discussed above, fathers worldwide increasingly take part in baby care, but some cultures still expect fathers to stay at a distance. Others favor equality (Shwalb et al., 2013). Most nations provide some paid leave for mothers who are in the workforce; some also provide paid leave for fathers; and several nations provide paid family leave that can be taken by either parent or shared between them.

TABLE 4.3 High-Quality Day Care

High-quality day care during infancy has five essential characteristics:

1. Adequate attention to each infant. A small group of infants needs two reliable, familiar, loving caregivers. Continuity of care is crucial.

2. Encouragement of language and sensorimotor development. Infants need language—songs, conversations, and positive talk—and easily manipulated toys.

3. Attention to health and safety. Cleanliness routines (e.g., handwashing), accident prevention (e.g., no small objects), and safe areas to explore are essential.

4. Professional caregivers. Caregivers should have experience and degrees/certificates in early-childhood education. Turnover should be low, morale high, and enthusiasm evident.

5. Warm and responsive caregivers. Providers should engage the children in active play and guide them in problem solving. Quiet, obedient children may indicate unresponsive care.

Contrast This With That Three infants again, but this infant day care center provides excellent care, as can be seen by comparing this scene with what is depicted in the photo on page 143.

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OBSERVATION QUIZWhat three things do you see that suggest good care? (see answer, page 156) ➤



The length of paid leave varies from a few days to about 15 months (see Figure 4.3). Those variations affect infant care, since an employee who loses money and a job is likely to go back to work as soon as possible after a baby is born.

The other crucial variable is whether day care is free, subsi-dized, or paid entirely by parents. When most child care is pri-vately funded, quality varies a great deal. That makes it difficult to generalize about the effects of infant day care, since some day care is so much better than others.

NORTH AMERICA Only 20 percent of infants in the United States are cared for exclusively by their mothers (i.e., no other relatives or babysitters) throughout their first year. This is in contrast to Canada, which is similar to the United States in ethnic diversity but has far more generous maternal leave and lower rates of maternal employment.

In the first year of life, most Canadians are cared for only by their mothers (Babchishin et al., 2013). Obviously, these differ-ences are affected by culture, economics, and politics more than by any universal needs of babies.

In the United States, some agencies send professional visitors to the homes of new parents, advising them about baby care. Mixed results come from such e fforts—some mothers are sus-picious, resistant, or overwhelmed (Paulsell et al., 2014). Simi-larly, grandmother care, informal care, and center care have each sometimes been destructive.

Grandmother care seems particularly complex, as grand-mothers vary in personality, competence, and dedication. For example, in most nations and centuries, infants were more likely to survive if their grandmothers were nearby, especially when they were newly weaned (Sear & Mace, 2008). The hypothesis is that grandmothers provided essential nourishment and pro-tection. But in one era (northern Germany, 1720–1874), living with a paternal grandmother (not a maternal one) increased the rate of newborn death (Beise & Voland, 2002).

Mixed evidence can also be found for center care. Al-though all the research finds that cognitive development ben-efits from infant day care, several studies have suggested that children in early, extensive center care are somewhat more likely to develop externalizing problems by age 5—hitting, yelling, and disobeying adults. Later development is affected as well. In the United States, adolescents who experienced ex-tensive day care are more impulsive and risk-taking, although maternal sensitivity moderates that tendency (Burchinal et al., 2014). The following further describes some of the research.

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Note: In some cases, leave can be shared between parents or other family members. Many nations have increased leave inthe past four years.

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FIGURE 4.3 A Changing World No one was offered maternity leave a century ago because the only jobs that mothers had were unregulated ones. Now, virtually every nation has a maternity leave policy, revised every decade or so. (The data on this chart are from 2011—already outdated.) As of 2014, only Australia, Sweden, Iceland, France, and Canada offered policies reflecting gender equality. That may be the next innovation in many nations.



The link between infant day care and later psychosocial problems, although not found in every study, raises concern. For that reason, a large study in Norway is par-ticularly interesting, as is recent research from Australia.

NORWAY In Norway, new mothers are paid at full salary to stay home with their babies for 47 weeks, and high-quality, free center day care is available from age 1 on. Most (62 percent) Norwegian 1-year-olds are in center care, as are 84 percent of 2-year-olds and 93 percent of 3-year-olds. By contrast, in the United States maternal leave is unpaid, and if the mother does not return to work after 3 months, her job may be terminated. Infant care is usually privately financed, which may reduce qual-ity for all but the wealthy.

In the United States, reliable statistics are not kept on center care for infants, but only 42 percent of all U.S. 3-year-olds were in educational programs in 2012, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (Kena et al., 2014). Rates

ANSWER TO OBSERVATION QUIZ(from page 154) Remontia Greene is holding the feeding baby in just the right position as she rocks back and forth—no propped-up bottle here. The two observing babies are at an angle and distance that makes them part of the social interaction, and they are strapped in. Finally, look at the cribs—no paint, close slats, and positioned so the babies can see each other. l

The Mixed Realities of Center Day Care

A highly respected professional organization, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), recently revised its standards for care of babies from birth to 15 months, based on current research (NAEYC, 2014). Breast-feeding is encouraged (via bottles of breast milk that mothers have pumped), babies are always put to sleep on their backs, group size is small (no more than eight infants), and the ratio of adults to babies is 1:4 or fewer.

Many specific practices are recommended to keep in-fant minds growing and bodies healthy. For instance, “be-fore walking on surfaces that infants use specifically for play, adults and children remove, replace, or cover with clean foot coverings any shoes they have worn outside that play area. If children or staff are barefoot in such areas, their feet are visi-bly clean.” Another recommendation is to “engage infants in frequent face-to-face social interactions”—including talk-ing, singing, smiling, touching (NAEYC, 2014).

Such responsive care, unfortunately, has not been routine for infants, especially those not cared for by their mothers. A large study in Canada found that infant girls seemed to develop equally well in various care arrangements.

However, Canadian boys from high-income families whose mothers were not exclusive caregivers fared less well than similar boys whose mothers provided all their care. By age 4, high- income boys were slightly more assertive or aggressive, with more emotional problems (e.g., a teacher might note that a kindergarten boy “seems unhappy”).

The opposite was true for boys from low-income fami-lies: On average, they benefited from nonmaternal care, again according to teacher reports. The researchers insist that no policy implications can be derived from this study, partly because care varied so much in quality, location, and pro-vider (Côté et al., 2008).

Research in the United States has also found that cen-ter care benefits children of low-income families (Peng & Robins, 2010). For less impoverished children, questions arise. An ongoing longitudinal study by the Early Child Care Network of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has followed the de-velopment of more than 1,300 children from birth to age 11. Early day care correlated with many cognitive advances, especially in language.

The social consequences were less stellar, however. Most analyses find that secure attachment to the mother was as common among infants in center care as among infants cared for at home. Like other smaller studies, the NICHD research confirms that the mother–child relationship is pivotal.

Infant day care seemed detrimental when the mother was insensitive and the infant spent more than 20 hours a week in a poor-quality program with too many children per group (McCartney et al., 2010). Again, boys in such circum-stances had more conflicts with their teachers than did the girls or other boys with a different mix of maternal traits and day-care experiences.

More recent work finds that high-quality care in infancy benefits the cognitive skills of children of both sexes and all income groups, with no evidence of emotional harm, es-pecially when it is followed by good preschool care (W. Li et al., 2013).

This raises another question: Might changing attitudes, female employment, and centers that reflect new research on infant development produce more positive results from center care? Or is there something about the connection between mother and baby that evolved over the millennia, as evolu-tionary theory might posit, that makes mother-care better in some way than allocare, no matter how expert the provider?

A V I EW F ROM S C I E NC E



increase slightly as maternal education rises, because mothers with more education are more likely to appreciate and afford early education.

Longitudinal results in Norway find no detrimental results of infant center care that begins at age 1. (Too few children were in center care before their first birth-day to find significant longitudinal results.) By kindergarten, Norwegian children in day care had slightly more conflicts with caregivers, but the authors suggest that may be the result of shy children becoming bolder as a result of day care (Solheim et al., 2013).

AUSTRALIA The attitudes of the culture and the mothers may influence the child. An intriguing example comes from Australia, where the government has recently attempted to increase the birth rate. Parents were given $5,000 for each newborn, parental leave is paid, and public subsidies provide child-care centers. The law en-dorses the concept that young children benefit from interactions with other children and learn from skilled caregivers, yet many Australians contend that babies need ex-clusive maternal care (Harrison et al., 2014). As you might imagine, each side claims support from psychology: behaviorism versus psychoanalytic theory.

Parents are caught in the middle. For example, one Australian mother of a 12-month-old boy chose center care, but said:

I spend a lot of time talking with them about his day and what he’s been doing and how he’s feeling and they just seem to have time to do that, to make the effort to communicate. Yeah they’ve really bonded with him and he’s got close to them. But I still don’t like leaving him there. And he doesn’t, to be honest . . . Because he’s used to sort of having, you know, parents.

[quoted in Boyd et al., 2013]

Developmentalists agree that both home quality and national context matter for infants. There is no agreed-upon setting for ideal infant psychosocial development, as long as people provide love, language, and play that are responsive to the baby. As one review explained: “This evidence now indicates that early nonparental care en-vironments sometimes pose risks to young children and sometimes confer benefits” ( Phillips et al., 2011, p. 44). The same can be said for parental care: Some provide excellent care; some do not.

Many people believe that the practices of their own family or culture are best and that other patterns harm either the infant or the mother. This is another example of the difference-equals-deficit error. Without evidence, assumptions flourish.

A Stable, Familiar PatternNo matter what form of care is chosen or what theory is endorsed, individualized care with stable caregivers seems best (Morrissey, 2009). Caregiver change is espe-cially problematic for infants because each simple gesture or sound that a baby makes not only merits an encouraging response but also requires interpretation by someone who knows that particular baby well.

For example, “baba” could mean bottle, baby, blanket, banana, or some other word that does not even begin with b. This example is an easy one, but similar com-munication efforts—requiring individualized emotional responses, preferably from a f amiliar caregiver—are evident even in the first smiles and cries.

A related issue is the growing diversity of baby care providers. Especially when the home language is not the majority language, parents hesitate to let people of an-other background care for their infants. That is one reason that, in the United States, immigrant parents often prefer care by relatives instead of by professionals (P. Miller et al., 2014). Relationships are crucial, not only between caregiver and infant but also between caregiver and parent (Elicker et al., 2014).



Particularly problematic is instability of nonmaternal care, as when an infant is cared for by a neighbor, a grandmother, a center, and then another grandmother, each for only a month or two. By age 3, children with unstable care histories are likely to be more aggressive than those with stable nonmaternal care, such as being at the same center with the same caregiver for years (Pilarz & Hill, 2014).

As is true of many topics in child development, questions remain. But one fact is without question: Each infant needs personal responsiveness. Someone should serve as a partner in the synchrony duet, a base for secure attachment, and a social refer-ence who encourages exploration. Then infant emotions and experiences—cries and laughter, fears and joys—will ensure that psychosocial development goes well.


1. What are the advantages of nonmaternal day care for the infant?

2. What are the disadvantages of exclusive maternal care for the infant?

3. What might be the problem with infant day care?

4. Why are the effects of center care in Norway different from those in the United States?

5. What are the costs and benefits of infant care by relatives?

6. What do infants need, no matter who cares for them or where care occurs?

Emotional Development

1. Two emotions, contentment and distress, appear as soon as an infant is born. Smiles and laughter are evident in the early months. Anger emerges in reaction to restriction and frustration, between 4 and 8 months of age, and becomes stronger by age 1.

2. Reflexive fear is apparent in very young infants. Fear of some-thing specific, including fear of strangers and of separation, is typ-ically strong toward the end of the first year.

3. In the second year, social awareness produces more selective fear, anger, and joy. As infants become increasingly self-aware, emotions emerge that encourage an interface between the self and others—specifically, pride, shame, and affection. Self- recognition (on the mirror/rouge test) emerges at about 18 months.

4. Stress impedes early brain and emotional development. Some infants are particularly vulnerable to the effects of early mal-treatment.

5. Temperament is a set of genetic traits whose expression is in-fluenced by the context. Inborn temperament is linked to later personality, although plasticity is also evident.

The Development of Social Bonds

6. Often by 2 months, and clearly by 6 months, infants be-come more responsive and social. Synchrony is evident. Infants are disturbed by a still face because they expect and need social interaction.

7. Attachment, measured by the baby’s reaction to the caregiver’s presence, departure, and return in the Strange Situation, is crucial. Some infants seem indifferent (type A attachment—i nsecure-

avoidant) or overly dependent (type C—insecure-resistant/ ambivalent) instead of secure (type B). Disorganized attachment (type D) is the most worrisome. Secure attachment provides encouragement for infant exploration.

8. As they play, toddlers engage in social referencing, looking to other people’s facial expressions and body language to detect what is safe, frightening, or fun.

9. Infants frequently use fathers as partners in synchrony, as at-tachment figures, and as social references, developing emotions and exploring their world via father caregiving.

10. Father-care is becoming more common, and it can be as nurturant as mother-care. Generally, father-play is more exciting than mother-play, which is more soothing. Parents vary in their roles; a well-informed functioning parental alliance is more impor-tant than who does what.

Theories of Infant Psychosocial Development

10. According to all major theories, caregiver behavior is espe-cially influential in the first two years. Freud stressed the mother’s impact on oral and anal pleasure; Erikson emphasized trust and autonomy. The impact of these is lifelong.

11. Behaviorists focus on learning; parents teach their babies many things, including when to be fearful or joyful. Reinforce-ment and repetition are crucial, according to behaviorists. Social learning begins in infancy.

12. Cognitive theory holds that infants develop working models based on their experiences. A person’s ideas about life, originating in infancy, can change with later experiences.

SUMMARY



Infant Day Care

13. The impact of nonmaternal care depends on many factors; it varies from one nation, one family, and even one child to an-other. Although center care advances cognition, concerns have been raised in the United States that it may increase the rate of externalizing problems.

14. Nations vary in funding for maternal leave, and for early education, and that affects infants when they enter day care

and the quality of that care. In some nations, such as Norway, most 1-year-olds are in public center care; in other nations, no infant is.

15. Although each theory has a somewhat different emphasis, all agree that quality of care (responsive, individualized) is crucial, particularly in infancy, no matter who provides that care.

social smile (p. 130)separation anxiety (p. 130)stranger wariness (p. 130)self-awareness (p. 132)temperament (p. 135)synchrony (p. 137)still-face technique (p. 138)

attachment (p. 139)secure attachment (p. 140)insecure-avoidant attachment

(p. 140)insecure-resistant/ambivalent

attachment (p. 140)

disorganized attachment (p. 140)

Strange Situation (p. 141)social referencing (p. 146)allocare (p. 147)trust versus mistrust (p. 151)

autonomy versus shame and doubt (p. 151)

social learning (p. 152)proximal parenting (p. 152)distal parenting (p. 152)working model (p. 153)

KEY TERMS

1. One cultural factor influencing infant development is how infants are carried from place to place. Ask four mothers whose infants were born in each of the past four decades how they transported them—front or back carriers, facing out or in, stroll-ers or carriages, in car seats or on mother’s laps, and so on. Why did they choose the mode(s) they chose? What are their opinions and yours on how such cultural practices might affect infants’ development?

2. Video synchrony for three minutes. Ideally, ask the parent of an infant under 8 months of age to play with the infant. If no

infant is available, observe a pair of lovers as they converse. Note the sequence and timing of every facial expression, sound, and gesture of both partners, and analyze what you see.

3. Contact several day-care centers to try to assess the quality of care they provide. Ask about factors such as adult/child ratio, group size, and training for caregivers of children of various ages. Is there a minimum age for infants? For caregivers? Why or why not? Analyze the answers, using Table 4.3 as a guide.

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CHAPTER OUTLINE...y daughter Bethany came to visit her newest nephew, Isaac, 7 months old. She had visited him many times before, always ex-pressing joy and excitement with her voice,